Never Know Your Love, for Men's Voices

Music and Lyrics by Stephan Carlson
This piece is an expansion of a tag I created in 2013-- almost ten years ago! In 2020 I was hired by Happy Hour in Germany to create this full composition. Since the tag was already 2mins long, as we discussed the work ahead we agreed that the piece couldn't be much longer than it already was, and that therefore it wouldn't really resemble a song or similar traditional forms. It is instead something of a musical-poetic reflection on the nature of what romantic love is, or at least how our perspective of it can change as we grow up. :)
I haven't written much barbershop/quartet music in the last few years. I can't really promise that will change in the immediate future-- I've been doing grad school and expanding my brain! Nevertheless, I hope this piece and the few none-too-subtle Easter eggs I left inside it will bring up fond memories for those familiar with some of my quartet stuff.

[@joshuawilson4818]

Tim Waurick brought me here and I'm so happy he did - beautiful!

[@alastairscobbie3093]

This is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. You're an incredible composer!!

[@MauriceGuibot]

voices colliding on the word collide is... I like it

[@james_subosits]

This has always been my favorite tag that you've uploaded. So glad to hear this expanded version.

[@SJCarlsonMusic]

Thank you so much James!

[@aaronluchterhand3527]

I cried when I heard it in high school and I've been listening ever since. Thank you for adding what you did. The tag was just as I replayed five thousand times. Sincerely, thank you! And please, please, never stop what you do!

[@jadongaudin1754]

@Tim Waurick needs to do this expanded version!

[@drakenguard04]

I can't believe I am just now finding the full version of this. The tag that you'd posted is one of my favorite compositions I've ever heard. This along with Sleep My Love are, in my view, perfect pieces. They encapsulate everything that I love about vocal arrangements like this, and are beautifully crafted. Thank you for sharing this with the world.

[@gloriabouchard2496]

Oh my! I had no idea until right this moment that this beautiful piece existed. I've heard the tag but never the full piece. Wow this really tugged at my heart strings! You are such a talent!❤

[@sdbrev210]

Right there with you Gloria. Found it just today. It's been a while since a song has touched me so profoundly and deeply, while not really knowing why. This will cause great reflection in my personal life. And I don't know if that is good or bad, but I shed some much needed tears today. Peace.

[@benpowell5348]

the high overtones around 2:40 are soooo loud but it's kinda cool. It makes it all sound bigger and almost where the listener can't quite pay attention to everything so it feels overwhelming, kinda like the feeling being described in the lyrics

[@thatguy409]

Every single song is an absolute masterpiece when you sing it, your voice is beautiful, I listened to “all of me” like you suggested and you couldn’t be more right, it was amazing, keep doing what your doing. And once again, wonderful work

[@SillySpaceMonkey]

You're a gift to all the mediums you work in.

[@willmccain3922]

Amazing! I’ve always loved not just your writing but your singing and recording skills as well. Will we see SLEEP NO MORE in a format like this?

[@SJCarlsonMusic]

Do you mean Sleep My Love? Probably not no, given that I made a multitrack video for it already!

[@thebl00per]

Fantastic work, Stephan! You have an amazing gift. If an ensemble wants to sing this, how do we go about purchasing the music and tracks?

[@SJCarlsonMusic]

Hi Brent! Thanks so much for your kind words. You can find the score on my website, just visit the web shop to purchase a pdf!

[@Running_in_spite]

Incredible work

[@christophercross789]

Props to you good sir on the tag during about the 2:45 mark very very well made

[@Recoswabay]

This is truly a wonderful masterpiece. Well done! I look forward to your next one.

[@mrbigg151]

This is amazing! That pickup and chords after 36 with those sustained notes overlapping is just *chef's kiss*🎵💯🔥

[@churchmusicdirector]

Great job!! Thanks for posting the sheet music along with it. I enjoy singing each of the parts.

[@mochageico]

Oh my. This. Is. Incredible.

[@aaronmccullagh6421]

This is insane, writing and vocals.

[@gabrielbaker7250]

i loved this! and i love that i found you! loved reading a bit about your story and musical journey too. i’m just starting my composition journey at community college, and hearing this helped in some way

[@laud2574]

This was absolutely beautiful, thanks so much

[@Deiija]

I hope you guys are ok and still singing 🙏

[@mikesmusic9563]

I keep I finding myself watching this video and am blown away every time. I’m part of a vocal quartet and was wondering if you would be alright with us using it for performance?

[@kylerwilcock7500]

It's beautiful, Stephan! Is there any way to have it adapted to SATB? I have an ensemble that I would love to have sing this!

[@SJCarlsonMusic]

You’re in luck! I’m literally about to try and tweak it into an SATB voicing. I don’t think it’ll require much work, it might even be performable by a mixed chorus if the piece is just transposed as is. Have a look at my website this weekend, in any case, and I’ll wager it’ll be there!

[@fagnersousa5906]

Oh wow! It is so hauntingly beautiful!

[@brianj959]

👏👏👏

[@austinwolford5094]

I love this. Is this available anywhere?

[@SJCarlsonMusic]

Hi Austin! If you visit my website from your computer, you will find both the score and learning tracks are available for purchase!

[@googingus]

wow.

[@gabrielbaker7250]

just curious, why so many fermatas? did you feel the piece had to stop every couple measures?

[@SJCarlsonMusic]

Hi! Thanks for asking. I think, in my vocal music, I've used fermatas in a couple ways. One, as a mechanism for creating space poetically- literally as like commas or spaces between textual or thematic stanzas. The other is as a tool for controlling the flow of energy, creating pauses in the passage of sound. There are a number of fermatas in the second half of the piece, where the "tag" begins and going forward especially; I think these fall into the second category. In a manner of speaking, yes, I wanted to create and signal for clear moments of pause, moments of arrival if you will. Quasi-cadential, formally speaking. They aren't cadences but they serve for me as points of arrival and departure, the nodes to and from which energy flow. hope that makes sense! It may also be worth mentioning that the tag was written ten years before the first half of the piece. I was in the habit of using fermatas that way A LOT at the time. haha. So, maybe in this case its also a mark of my young musical self.

[@gingerwithglasses6793]

just simply gorgeous